1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a display apparatus for a vehicle audio system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 5A is a front view of an LED display panel of a prior art audio apparatus and FIG. 5B is a side view of the prior art audio apparatus shown in FIG. 5A. In FIG. 5A, the LED display 1 displays a channel, a receiving band, a receiving frequency, and functions such as repeating with LED segment display elements. Under the LED display panel 1, another LED display panel 2 is arranged which displays a kind of music such as jazz, rock, or pop and an equalizing characteristic using straight and curved bars.
FIG. 6A is a front view of an LED display panel of another prior art audio apparatus and FIG. 6B is a side view of another prior art audio apparatus shown in FIG. 6A. In FIG. 6A, an LED display panel 3 of another prior art audio apparatus has a radio frequency display region 3a and an equalizer display region 3b on a single display board 3.
The LED display panel shown in FIG. 5A requires two display panels 1 and 2 and the displaying area is large. On the other hand, the LED display panel shown in FIG. 6A has wide display panel 3.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a superior display apparatus for a vehicle audio system.
According to the present invention there is provided a display apparatus for a vehicle including: a display panel including a plurality of alphanumeric segment display elements; and a display control circuit for controlling a plurality of said alphanumeric segment display elements in accordance with either of frequency data from an audio unit mounted on said vehicle to display digits of said frequency data or equalizing characteristic data supplied from said audio unit to display a spectrum distribution over a plurality of said alphanumeric segment display elements.
In the display apparatus, the display panel may include at least first to third of the alphanumeric segment display elements and the display control circuit operates the first alphanumeric segment display element to display a low frequency range level of the spectrum distribution, the second alphanumeric segment display element to display an intermediate frequency range level of the spectrum distribution, and the third alphanumeric segment display element to display a high frequency range level of the spectrum distribution.
In the display apparatus, the display panel may further include a kind display unit adjacent to a plurality of the alphanumeric segment display elements, the equalizing characteristic data further representing a kind of a music to be reproduced by the audio unit, and the display control circuit operates the kind display unit to display the kind in accordance with the equalizing characteristic data.
In the display apparatus, the display panel may further include a function display unit and the display control circuit operates the function display unit to display a function to be executed by the audio unit in accordance with function data from the audio unit.